Gen Con is the largest table top gaming convention in North America featuring pen & paper Role Playing Games, Board Games, Miniature Games, Collective Card Games, and Strategy Games. It is held in Indianapolis, Indiana each year and has grown to have close to 50,000 attendees each year.
Companies use the convention to launch and announce new games each year, here are some highlights of what you can look forward to in the coming months.

Fantasy Flight Games

Star Wars Armada

For fans of the X-Wing miniatures game who were hoping to one day see larger ships like the Star Destroyer this is what you’ve been waiting for. Star Wars Armada is a two player game where players will take on the role of fleet admiral commanding capital ships and squads of x-wings or tie fighters using command dials and a unique new manoeuvre tool.

The Core box comes with everything you need to get started including the rules, and articulated manoeuvre tool, a range ruler, six command dials, nine attack dice, ten unpainted squadrons, and three pre-painted ship miniatures(Victory-class Destroyer), Nebulon-B frigate, CR90 Corellian corvette), plus more than 130 cards and tokens.

This game is set for release in early 2015.
For more information click HERE:

Star Wars Imperial Assault

Fantasy Flight showed lots of love for fans of the Star Wars universe by unveiling a new board game in addition to new miniatures for X-Wing and books for the Star Wars RPG. Star Wars Imperial Assault is puts 2 – 5 players into thrilling missions woven together as a narrative campaign. Alternately the game can be played as a two player skirmish game going head-to-head over conflicting objectives. You will get to play as iconic characters like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and more!

This game is set for release in early 2015.
For more information click HERE

XCOM

XCOM is an exciting cooperative board game of global defense for one to four players. You and your friends take on the role of an elite military organization known as XCOM seeking a way to defeat a growing alien invasion. This revolutionary game plays not only on a board but with the aid of a free digital companion app which will coordinate the alien’s activities in real time providing a unique play experience each time.

The game comes with 1 Game board, 12 XCOM soldiers, 8 Interceptors, 24 UFOs, 5 custom dice, more than 200 cards and tokens!

This game is set for release later this year!
For more information click HERE.

Iello

King of New York

As a follow up to the hugely popular King of Tokyo, Iello is bringing us King of New York! For 2 – 6 players this game introduces new ways to play and more decisions to be made. There are buildings to stomp, military units to destroy, and six brand new monsters!

Golem Arcana has its roots as a Kickstarter and is now available in stores! This unique game leverages smartphones or tablets to enrich the experience of a miniatures game. The mobile app handles all the rules and record keeping allowing the player to focus on strategy and fun!

The game uses a custom Tabletop Digital Interface stylus to read microcodes which can be found on each miniature and transmits that data to your mobile device via Bluetooth.

Cross into the ladies of 1001 Nights, the old sultan has died and control of Naqala is up for grabs! Oracles foretold of strangers who would manoeuvre the five tribes to gain control over the legendary city-state.

Five Tribes is a game for 2 – 4 players where players move their meeples to control villages, markets, oases, and sacred places in an attempt to control Nagala. Like other Days of Wonder games it is easy to learn but strategic enough to provide countless replays.
The game comes with: 30 tiles depicting Nagala, 4 player sets, a bag of more than 100 wooden meeples, 22 Djinn cards, 54 resource cards, 96 victory coins, 1 bid order & 1 turn order track, a scoring pad, 5 Djinn & turn order summary sheets, and a rule booklet.

This game will be available in September 2014.
For more information click HERE

Z-man Games
Z-Man games is releasing two new versions of Pandemic!

Pandemic: The Cure

Pandemic: The Cure is a dice based version of the popular game with a faster setup and play time. Much like the board game four diseases threaten the world and 2 – 6 players must work together to stop the outbreak. Players roll each turn to determine actions available to them then move between cities, treat diseases, collect samples and discover cures.

In Pandemic: Contagion the tables are flipped. No longer do you play as the CDC trying to stop various outbreaks, this time you play as a deadly disease trying to wipe out all humanity! Evolve and spread your disease around the world before the other 4 players to become the most deadly disease ever known to man!

Battle of the Five Armies is a two player game that allows you to recreate the conclusion of the Hobbit. One player takes on the role of the Shadow commanding Bolg, son of Azog, King of the Goblins, while the Free Peoples player is in control of Men, Dwarves, and Elves led by Gandalf to fend off the goblin army.

The game uses rules based on the War of the Ring board game the game uses dice and event cards to create a unique experience.

Robotech RPG Tactics is a fast paced tabletop miniatures game that captures the action and adventure of the anime. Two or more players can engage in squad skirmishes or large scale battles using a variety of mecha. The game has several Waves of expansion miniatures planned thanks to a very successful Kickstarter campaign.

Chris has been working in the comic and gaming industry for more than ten years and is an owner of Heroes' Beacon. He enjoys reading comics, playing board games, painting and playing miniature war games.